Saturday, December 29, 2012

We welcome the decision by
His Majesty, the benevolent King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia
empowering women

Twenty per cent quota has been set apart
for women in the shura, the top consultative body.

As per the first amendment (Article 3),
women will constitute twenty per cent out of the 150 Shura council members.

As
per the second amendment (Article 22), women will have all the membership
rights in accordance with the tasks entrusted to them.

We recognize that the King is under heavy
conservative – theological constraints.

Conforming to the tradition, Hijab(Veil)
and separate places for office, equipments and prayer are insisted. This amply
shows that real reform under Allaah’s scriptural guidance and Shariah is
impossible. Another glaring fact is that even enlightened and benevolent rulers
cannot bring about satisfactory changes in an Islamic regime where the majority
of population is fanatic believers. Though this part of his decision does not
come up to the modern humanistic standards and sophistication, we would like to
temporarily ignore ‘unrealistic and extreme’ views.

We hope that the women nominated would
do their utmost to utilize this opportunity opened before them for the benefit
of all women in the kingdom.

We hope
that their work will make it possible to re-interpret Islamic concepts so as to
make them compatible with the 21st century world order. We also hope
that His Majesty the king will exert his good grace to bring in an
atmosphere of fair chance for free thought and humanistic expressions which
will prove beneficial to the welfare and satisfaction of the progressive sections
of society.

We extend our best wishes to the King
and the people of Saudi Arabia. We call upon the progressive section of the
Saudi society to take upon themselves the task of educating the comparatively
less fortunate among their people so as to herald a New Enlightenment.

It is up to the Humanist activists,
Human Rights agencies and intellectuals with scientific outlook to create ways
and means for educating the masses taking in to account the limitations of
existing constitutional – legal situation.

Humanist individuals
have the potential to create ever widening and increasing ripples. Let us be
positive and optimistic.

If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.”

–John Stuart Mill

What does it mean to feel one’s historical responsibility? It is that, after finishing reading this statement and this message, and posting your name at the end, you are reassured that the dream that captured Martin Luther King’s imagination, and Mahatma Gandhi’s, and Dorothy Irene Height’s, and all the free people of the world and in history, who have died without it. For the rights to freedom and justice and equality of their people have been achieved. Therefore we write this statement and this message to the “general prosecutor”, phrased in a manner in which he understands and that is understood by the next generation of our people, so thenext generation can understand the amount of damage and destruction that was caused by those that lived before them. Either they learn well from that lesson, or they can suffer the consequences.On the 12th of February 2012, the Saudi government returned our beloved friend Hamza Kashgari from Malaysia,overwhelmed, on a private jet after he ran from the oppression of the death threats he had received. The world never looked so grim for him. The reason why? Because he wrote what was on his mind, and said of the Prophet (pbuh), “I loved things about you and hated others,” and they became angry with him. How dare he say, “I hated things about you,” and expressed what’s in his soul? Then he said to the Prophet: “I will not pray for you and I will not bow to you and I will shake your hand as your equal,” and voices attacked him, many calls were made to kill him, his addresses were published and the majority of people went with it. Then the King issued an order to arrest him and subject him to the general prosecution and interrogation. Despite leaving the country mere hours before the fact, seeking refuge, it was still of no use as Malaysia deported anddelivered him.At the same time as we write this statement and this message, our beloved friend Hamza Kashgari sits behind bars awaiting his unknown fate. The angry voices have not subsided to any extent, until the “general prosecutor” of Jeddah stated to a local paper that a court case is being made against Hamza and all those who encouraged, agreed, and otherwise supported him on Twitter. Then suddenly lists were established and peoples’ investigative courts were initiated; either you reject what he said and demand his execution, thus saving yourself but losing your soul, or go with the other way that many friends have gone, and focus on the fact that Hamza repented and retracted all that he said. In other words, through forgiveness, and you don’t win your soul here, you’d just be lying and deceiving yourself- for this way, you’re with the first group of people, but you accept his repentance and they don’t. So what stands behind the two aforementioned paths? It’s that no one else talks, that people become silent about what is inside them, and they agree with the others on matters that they don’t really agree with them on. That way they lose themselves and their individuality and assimilate with the masses and become hypocritical with them, even if they don’t approve and it’s out of their hands.

So in this message and this statement to the “general prosecutor”, who made the aforementioned statement, we say to him that we, who have written our names at the bottom of the message and in the comments, refuse Hamza’s trial and his being forced to repent and we demand he be released at once and protected. To make matters easier for you in trying to search and investigate and prosecute, we with our names encourage fighting an idea with another using embedded convictions that are strong, not frail. Not using arrests and punishment. We support all of those who would like to speak their minds and express what is in their souls ,and write and speak and raise their voices high with what they want to say. Not with what we want, and not with what the angry mob wants, and with all those international declarations signed to preserve human rights and freedoms, which were signed by the Saudigovernment but were worked against and deviated away from. We make sure to acknowledge that we often disagree with each other and criticize, to the extent that we tell you, the “general prosecutor”, that these names you see and read are ready to sacrifice their lives so any citizen can state and otherwise express their opinion.

We believe that we are being tested now and either be or not be. We are either true to ourselves and our principles and values that we believe in, for our nation and its future, in calling for its rights and freedoms both in conscience and creed, for every citizen living around us, and standing up to the deviation of the government away from the international accords that it signed, guaranteeing human rights and freedoms.

Or else we are just posers with no principles or values, speaking what we don’t believe, and having no hope that the next generation would be able to resist this governmental deviation. Of freedom and justice and equality, terms thatpass by the awareness of many at this time, and of many others who have not felt the historical responsibility they have towards their nation.

3.

End Death Calls for

Saudi Poet and Blogger

All the friends are requested to furnish these links also
along with their requests for support to the cause. A smart activist can encourage 10 friends a day. Let us make our endeavor a historic success!

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United Nations Draft Declaration of Human Rights

United Nations Draft Declaration of Human Rights

Preamble

Whereas, the realization in practice of the Universal DeclarationofHuman Rightsdepends on the intellectual and emotional acceptance by the people of the universal human values on which these rights are founded,

Whereas, disregard and contempt for human values have resulted in barbarous acts that have outraged the conscience of humanity,

Whereas, it is essential to promote the development and acceptance of basic human values by the peoples of all nations to usher in a world order based on freedom,truth, reason, and compassion,

Whereas, the people of the United Nations have in the Charter and the Universal declaration of Human Rights affirmed their faith in the dignity and worth of the human person and have determined to promote social and cultural progress in peace and harmony, and

Whereas, the common understanding and acceptance of these universal human values is of the greatest importance for the realization of this pledge;

Now therefore the General Assemblyof the United Nations proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Values as a common ideal of attainment for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every section of society, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these values and make all efforts, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition among the peoples of the world.

ARTICLES

Article 1:

Source of Values:Dignity of the human personas an autonomous agent endowed

with reason is the ultimate source of all values.

Article 2:

Reason: Reason is an essential human faculty in promoting the progress of human kind enabling human beings to have a world view that motivates their thoughts and actions. Cultivation of rational thinking is, therefore, an intrinsic human value.

Article 3:

Critical Intelligence:The essential nature of human beings is to question, examine, and understand. It is necessary to subject all beliefs to the scrutiny of reason and critical intelligence, in order to eliminate error. An unexamined belief is not worth having.

Article 4:

Truth:The aim of all rational thought is the discovery of truth. Truth consists of beliefs about reality resulting from rational thinking and experience. Quest for truth is, therefore, a supreme human value.

Article 5:

Tolerance:Tolerance of differing ideas and viewpoints is essential for the discovery of truth. Absence of tolerance leads to denial of freedom and the suppression of creativity. Tolerance is, therefore, a basic human value.

Article 6:

Creativity : All social progress is the result of human creativity. Rooted in the individuality of a human being, creativity can flourish only in an atmosphere of freedom.

Article 7:

Freedom:Respect for the dignity of the human person demands that the freedom of every human being ought to be ensured in all spheres of life, consistent with the freedom of all.

Article 8:

Equality:Respect for the human person implies that all human beings shall be treated as equal in dignity and rights irrespective of race, nationality, belief or non-belief, colour, gender, age, or sexual orientation.

Article 9:

Justice:The principle of justice which dictates equal consideration for the well being of every individual shall inform all social institutions and relations between individuals.

Article 10:

Humankind and Nature:Man being a part of nature necessitates his living in harmony with it. Concern for all life and the quality of the environment ought to guide all human activities.

Article 11:

Universal Culture :It should be the aim of all human endeavor to evolve a universal human culture based on freedom, reason, and compassion.